SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cancelled and delayed flights are a global travel issue right now, but the impact on Sacramento International Airport has been minimal.
According to the Sacramento County Airport System, the number of people flying in and out of Sacramento International Airport is up 62.3% in 2022 compared to 2021. The report tracks flights from the start of the year up until the month of May.
But, the Department of Transportation released a report in July citing 80.2% of flights are arriving on time while 81.7% of flights are departing on time. The data includes flights through the month of May.
Michael Pacheco is gearing up for a multiple weeklong European vacation.
“I’m concerned enough to buy insurance, yeah, so we bought insurance just in case that happens,” said Pacheco.
Megan Brickell flew in from Seattle for a visit.
“If you booked a nonstop flight and maybe missed your flight, there wasn’t another nonstop flight anytime soon. You would probably have to get on a stop or two flight,” said Brickell.
Airport officials say they haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary at Sacramento International Airport.
They projected 125,000 passengers would travel 4th of July weekend and the numbers came in a little bit lower.
With the delays and cancellations, Sacramento International Airport is trying to reduce the stress it can cause passengers.
In July, the airport has launched the Boarding Area Relaxation Corps (BARC) for passengers.
They are friendly, furry faces wearing vests saying 'pet me,' to help people relax. The program hasn’t been in the airport for 18 months due to the pandemic.
Now, there are 27 teams traveling through both terminals.
Volunteers with the program like Shelia Bose say it's time to be back because they’ve seen passenger stress return to pre-pandemic levels.
“People are sitting up there for hours sometimes waiting for their next flight. They don’t know necessarily if it’s going to go out that day and may miss connections -- that’s the other problem for them -- so there’s a lot of different reasons to be stressed up there,” said Bose.
The program has been at the airport since 2015. They roam the terminals on Mondays, Wednesdays, and the first and third Fridays of the month.
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